METALLICA CONCERT IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA DUBBED THE ‘HEAVIEST’ EVER

Metallica's September 6th concert at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska was dubbed the heaviest ever by the Lincoln Journal Star, with a "dynamic weight" of up to 240,000 pounds.

Some 15,000 fans attended the record-setting show, with the five-year-old building's roof holding up under the tonnage which hung from the arena's rigging grid and steel beams attached to the major trusses. What made that even more impressive was that the stage was in the middle of the arena, so all the production gear, sound and lighting hung in a circle in the middle of the building.

The setup took less than five hours to complete -- far less than the nearly 10 hours it took to get everything ready at Minneapolis's Target Center two days earlier. Venue manager Tom Lorenz explained, "That was a desire we had during the design phase, about having the structural capacity to hang the biggest shows and to have the building really fitted for concerts . . . Not every building will be able to put up all of (Metallica's) show. We were able to do it well and do it fast."

Metallica has been touring extensively behind what many fans consider the band's best album in years, and drummer Lars Ulrich told us that the group feels good about where it's at right now: "There's this thing, as you know, in the music business about 'the best days are behind us.' And when you still get a chance to challenge that, that's an awesome thing -- especially when it happens as organically as this whole thing did. So we're very appreciative and it's a really cool time in Metallica right now." in Saskatoon, Canada.